1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the synthesis and identification of novobiocin analogues useful as a class of anticancer agents and/or neuroprotective agents. The compounds of the present invention act by inhibition of the Hsp90 protein-folding machinery.
2. Description of Related Art
The 90 kDa heat shock proteins (“Hsp90”) belong to a family of chaperones that regulate intracellular functions and are required for the refolding of denatured proteins following heat shock, as well as the conformational maturation of a large number of key proteins involved in cellular processes. The Hsp90 family of chaperones is comprised of four different isoforms. Hsp90α (inducible/major form) and Hsp90β (constitutive/minor form) are found predominately in the cytosol, the 94-kDa glucose-regulated protein (“GRP94”) is localized to the endoplasmic reticulum, and Hsp75/tumour necrosis factor receptor associated protein 1 (“TRAP-1”) resides in the mitochondrial matrix. These Hsp90s bind to client proteins in the presence of cochaperones, immunophilins, and partner proteins to make the multiprotein complex responsible for conformational maturation of newly formed nascent peptides into biologically active three-dimensional structures.
As discussed more fully below, Hsp90 is an ATP-dependent protein with an ATP binding site in the N-terminal region of the active homodimer. Disruption of the ATPase activity of Hsp90 results in the destabilization of multiprotein complexes and subsequent ubiquitination of the client protein, which undergoes proteasome-mediated hydrolysis. More specifically, in an ATP-dependent fashion, Hsp70 binds to newly synthesized proteins cotranslationally and/or posttranslationally to stabilize the nascent peptide by preventing aggregation. Stabilization of the Hsp70/polypeptide binary complex is dependent upon the binding of Hsp70 interacting protein (“HIP”), which occurs after Hsp70 binds to the newly formed peptide. Hsp70-Hsp90 organizing protein (“HOP”) contains highly conserved tetratricopeptide repeats (“TPRs”) that are recognized by both Hsp70 and Hsp90, promoting the union of Hsp70/HIP and Hsp90, which results in a heteroprotein complex. In the case of telomerase and steroid hormone receptors, the client protein is transferred from the Hsp70 system to the Hsp90 homodimer with concomitant release of Hsp70, HIP, and HOP. Upon binding of ATP and an immunophilin with cisttrans peptidyl prolyl-isomerase activity (FKBP51, FKBP52, or CyPA), the ensemble folds the client protein into its three-dimensional structure. In a subsequent event, p23 binds Hsp90 near the N-terminal region promoting the hydrolysis of ATP and release of the folded protein, Hsp90 partner proteins, and ADP.
Examples of proteins dependent upon Hsp90 for conformational maturation include oncogenic and cellular Src kinases (v-Src, Hck, Lck), Raf, p185, mutant p53 (not normal p53), telomerase, steroid hormone receptors, polo-like kinase (“PLK”), protein kinase B (“AKT”), death domain kinase (“RIP”), MET kinase, focal adhesion kinase (“FAK”), aryl hydrocarbon receptor, RNA-dependent protein kinase (“PKR”), nitric oxide synthase (“NOS”), centrosomal proteins, PI3 kinases, androgen receptor (“AR”), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (“MMP2”) and others. In addition, other proteins, such as cyclin dependent kinase 4 (“CDK4”), cyclin dependent kinase 6 (“CDK6”), estrogen receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (“Her-2” or “erbB2”) are thought to be client proteins of Hsp90. Of these Hsp90 client proteins, Raf, PLK, RIP, AKT, FAK, telomerase, HER-2, and MET kinase are directly associated with the six hallmarks of cancer: (1) self-sufficiency in growth signals; (2) insensitivity to antigrowth signals; (3) evasion of apoptosis; (4) unlimited replication potential; (5) sustained angiogenesis; and (6) tissue invasion/metastasis. Consequently, Hsp90 is a target for the development of cancer therapeutics because multiple signaling pathways can be simultaneously inhibited by disruption of the Hsp90 protein folding machinery.
Hsp90 contains two nucleotide-binding sites: the N-terminal ATP binding site is the region to which geldanamycin (“GDA”), 17-(allylamino)-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (“17-AAG”), herbimycin A (“HB”), and radicicol bind (see Roe et al., Structural Basis for Inhibition of the Hsp90 Molecular Chaperone by the Antitumor Antibiotics Radicicol and Geldanamycin, J. Med. Chem. 1999, 42, 260-266) and the C-terminus, which was recently shown to bind novobiocin (see Marcu et al., The Heat Shock Protein 90 Antagonist Novobiocin Interacts with a Previously Unrecognized ATP-binding Domain in the Carboxy Terminis of the Chaperone, J. Biol. Chem. 2000, 276, 37181).

The C-terminal portion of Hsp90 is required for dimerization and represents a promising target for inhibitors. Unfortunately, the ability of novobiocin to cause degradation of Hsp90 clients is relatively weak (about 700 μM in SKBr3 breast cancer cells). Thus, there remains a need to develop other Hsp90 inhibitors as useful anti-cancer agents. Most preferably, these new Hsp90 inhibitors have decreased toxicity, increased solubility, and/or increased selectivity for Hsp90.
It is also contemplated that the Hsp90 inhibitors of the present invention will be useful as neuroprotective agents. The accumulation of protein aggregates within or outside neurons is a common characteristic of the two most common age-related neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease, with plaques enriched in β-amyloid peptides (“Aβ”) and neurofibrillary tangles (“NFTs”) containing hyperphsophorylated Tau protein, and Parkinson's disease (“PD”) with Lewy bodies composed primarily of fibrillar osynuclein. However, even less frequent but equally debilitating nervous system diseases such as Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“ALS”), prion diseases, and the tauopathies also share the characteristic of aggregated protein deposits. A growing body of evidence now indicates that strategies that promote either refolding or degradation of hyperphosphorylated Tau enhance cell survival in the presence of over-expressed Tau or mutant human Tau. See, e.g., Shimura et al., Binding of Tau to heat shock protein 27 leads to decreased concentration of hyperphosphorylated tau and enhanced cell survival, J. Biol. Chem., 2004, 279:17957-17962; Dou et al., Chaperones increase association of Tau protein with microtubules, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A, 2003, 100:721-726; Kosik & Shimura, Phosphorylated tau and the neurodegenerative foldopathies, Biochim. Biophys. Acta., 2005, 1739:298-310; Shimura et al., CHIP-Hsc70 complex ubiquitinates phosphorylated tau and enhances cell survival, J. Biol. Chem., 2005 279:4869-4876. Such observations suggest that the cellular machinery needed for removal of misfolded proteins may be compromised in neurodegenerative diseases.
More specifically, the interaction of Hsp90 with cochaperones that regulate cell-specific responses to stress has led to the identification of Hsp90 and the cochaperones Hsp70 and CHIP (carboxy-terminus of the Hsp70-interacting protein) as strong candidates in determining the fate of neuronal protein aggregates. This has been most clearly demonstrated in the case of the hyperphosphorylated Tau protein in NFTs in Alzheimer's disease and the “tauopathies” due to mutations in the tau gene. Low concentrations of Hsp90 inhibitors appear to up-regulate expression of Hsp90 and co-chaperones that decrease aggregated Tau and increase neuronal survival. However, most of the known Hsp90 inhibitors are toxic to many cell types, limiting their potential for chronic use to delay the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, there remains a need to develop other Hsp90 inhibitors as useful neuroprotective agents.
Additional aspects of the invention, together with the advantages and novel features appurtenant thereto, will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned from the practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.